Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, MB behind chaos, protests in Libya as talks fail

Turmoil has soared across Libya as Libyan political protagonists quit talks in Geneva Thursday without reaching a deal on the constitutional draft and elections.

Talks between the House of Representatives and State Council legislative bodies were aimed at reaching a common constitutional basis for elections that were originally scheduled for December 2021.

This has drawn the ire of the people of Libya due to the intransigence of the Muslim Brotherhood and its allies.

Protesters have stormed Libya's parliament building in the eastern city of Tobruk while others marched the streets of Libya in demonstrations allegedly against the deteriorating living conditions and political deadlock.

Despite the progress in negotiations between the heads of the respective chambers this week, disagreements remained on the eligibility requirements for the candidates in the first presidential elections.

After three rounds of consultations in Cairo, a common ground has not been reached yet towards reaching a comprehensive national election, which is a genuine desire of the Libyan people.

"Disagreement persists on the eligibility requirements for the candidates in the first presidential elections," UN Libya adviser Stephanie Williams has said, adding that she would make recommendations on alternative ways forward.

Libyan experts have suggested that failure to reach common negotiating paths was due to intransigence by the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood and its desire to tailor the agreement in favor of its candidates.

Libyan sources have told Al Bawaba Newspaper that those who attacked the parliament building in the eastern city of Tobruk are implementing certain political agendas as some of them held over portraits of former president Muammar Gaddafi.

The sources pointed out that the protesters who set fire to Parliament and stormed it are affiliated with Saif al-Islam Gaddafi and that they have their own agendas and political aims.

The Parliament in March appointed Fathi Bashagha to take over as prime minister, but Abdulhamid Dbeibah who was installed in the role through a UN-backed process last year has refused to step down.

The sources pointed out that the cover of the demonstrations is the deterioration of the living conditions in Libya, but the primary goal is political, noting that Saif al-Islam Gaddafi stands behind this turmoil as he seeks to return to the Libyan political scene through the election.

The sources continued, that the residents of Tobruk are angry at the regulatory measures carried out by the Egyptian and Libyan armies to prevent infiltration across the border, because they profit from facilitating immigration, smuggling and visas.

The sources further affirmed that Dbeibah on the other has been trying to spread chaos, while Bashagha is seeking to take over power, therefore, every party is taking advantage of protesters for each own interests.

The sources added that the Muslim Brotherhood is the main generator for the chaos that is currently taking place in Libya, as they derive their legitimacy only from chaos, and they are now trying as much as possible to direct these demonstrations to lead to burning, destruction, looting and violence.

As for the Geneva agreement, sources have affirmed that the Brotherhood is clearly afraid of something, which is Egypt's support for the government of Bashagha because it is a government capable of controlling the homeland and the army, therefore, the end of the Muslim Brotherhood in the country.

It was also affirmed that the issue regarding having a foreign nationality was highlighted by the group to prevent Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar from entering the elections because they know that if he entered the elections, they will not be able to forge, and they will not be able to win without forgery.

Regarding the army and police resistance to the incidents of violence, burning and looting that occurred today in Libya, Libyan sources said that the eastern region did not have violence events except in the city of Tobruk, which is of a tribal nature.

The sources also added to Al-Bawaba that the eastern region lays its decision making in the hands of its people, as this region fell in the events of 2011 in 12 days, so people are afraid of intervention, armament, and being manipulated through slogans.

Libya has been suffering several days of power outages, worsened by the blockade of several oil facilities while recent weeks have seen skirmishes between armed groups in Tripoli, prompting fears of a return to a bloody conflict.